Oldest College Football Hall-of-Famer Behm Dies at 95

Forrest Behm's Obituary , Corning, New York

David Max's Historic Interview with Forrest

Randy York’s N-Sider

Official Blog of the Huskers

Forrest E. Behm, the most inspiring walk-on in Nebraska football history and believed to be the oldest College Football Hall-Famer, died Monday in Corning, N.Y.  He was 95. One of the most successful athletic/academic/business leaders in American history, Behm also was a first-team All-America tackle on Nebraska’s first-ever bowl team that lost to Stanford, 21-13, in the 1941 Rose Bowl. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

Behm is suvived by his four children: Courtney Behm of Mountain View, Calif., Douglas Behm of Scottsdale, Ariz., Brian Behm of St. Paul, Minn., and Gregory Behm of Hamilton, Mont., plus two  daughters-in-law; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. On Monday, July 6, there will be a viewing at the Acly-Stover funeral home, 327 East 2nd Street, Corning, N.Y., from 5 to 7 p.m. Memorial services will take place at the First Presbyterian Church, 1 East 1st Street, Corning, N.Y. on Tuesday, July 7, at 10:30 am, followed by a reception in the church hall. A private burial will be held at the convenience of the family.

Unlike any other storyline in a fabled group of College Football Hall-of-Famers, Behm’s folklore almost defies imagination. His legendary status is rooted in remarkable facts. In adolescence, Behm was a serious-minded academic because he couldn't walk properly, let alone run onto a field. Research provides stirring accounts of how Behm's leg was so severely burned in a brush fire at age 5 that doctors suggested amputation. Nebraska Athletic tour guides tell fans that Behm's dad was so determined to help little Forrest come out of this distressing ordeal that he swooped him off the hospital bed, wrapped his arms around him and took Forrest home so he could begin a long, painful rehabilitation process.

Late Legendary SID Don "Fox" Bryant Chronicled Behm's Story

"No one's cutting off my boy's leg," his father told the medical staff on his way out of the hospital. According to the late Don “Fox” Bryant, Nebraska's legendary Sports Information Director, Memorial Stadium tour guides describe how Forrest's father ended up enlisting the help of a veterinarian. The father would ask his wife and any other females in the house to leave, so they wouldn't have to hear how tortuous it was to rewrap, salve and stretch Forrest's crippled leg on a daily basis. It took years for a father and the cooperative veterinarian to work on that leg and bring it back to full function. The process was so painful, Behm told a Lincoln sportswriter that Forrest would bite on a piece of white pine so the neighbors wouldn't hear him scream.

 Years of massages, combined with incredible perseverance, helped Behm build his strength, but he didn't regain full mobility in his leg until his senior year at Lincoln High School. Amazingly, the only reason Behm even tried out for football his last year in high school, and later walked on at Nebraska, was because he couldn't make his prep basketball team.

The rest of the Forrest Behm story continues to read like something straight out of a Hollywood movie. Yes, Forrest, you can walk on here at your home state university, but only if you agree to buy your own size 15 pair of football cleats. That's the way it was during the Depression in the late 1930s when Forrest became living proof that tough times never last, but tough people do.

The Forrest Behm Story is Unparalleled in College Football

How else can you explain someone who never played football until his senior year in high school? Here was a talented and motivated young man that could barely plant his foot in high school, yet went on to letter three years (1938-39-40) at a school that has won more college football games than every university in America except Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas. The Forrest Behm Story is unparalleled. He couldn’t even try out for his junior high or high school team, yet earned All-America honors and never missed a single practice until a hip injury sidelined him right before the Huskers played Stanford before 92,000 fans in the Rose Bowl. Behm was honored at Memorial Stadium (pictured above with his award alongside wife Betty), flanked by Nebraska President Ameritus Martin Massengale, left, Nebraska Athletic Director Bob Devaney, right, and fellow Husker College Football Hall-of-Famer Ed Weir next to Devaney.

Ed Schwartzkopf, Forrest's high school and college teammate, shared stirring stories about how much Behm inspired the Huskers. Listening to Schwartzkopf describe Behm’s presence when I was a Lincoln Journal Star sportswriter in the 1970s and ‘80s was mesmerizing. Behm was everything that was good about Nebraska football, and it was all rolled into one. He was honest, hard-working and inspirational. He was also unselfish, smart and extremely dedicated.

From Humble Roots to the Heights of Corporate America

As our own bio on Huskers.com points out, Behm was more than just a first-team All-America football player. He was also class president, an ROTC Cadet Colonel, an honor student and a recipient of a Harvard Fellowship for graduate study. He served in the Army Signal Corps and rose to the rank of Major. In 1946, he joined the Corning International Corporation and just like the walk-on he was in college football, he started at the bottom and worked his way to the top, becoming a foreman, sales manager, plant manager and eventually president.

Behm landed in New York as an assistant football coach at the United States Military Academy in West Point. A consummate multi-tasker, even after retiring, he became a management consultant to six companies and two non-profit organizations. He was a man who experienced life in ups and downs. In 1937, he started on one of Nebraska's worst teams ever, a team that started 0-4-1, but thanks to his leadership, won three of its last four at Kansas, at Iowa and against Kansas State. Behm said his coach, Biff Jones, was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame because he turned "just regular guys" into a "team" that made the Rose Bowl.

Even though Behm was unable to compete from age 5 until his senior year of high school, he was only hurt once at Nebraska and never missed a game. The Huskers didn't have dumbbells or weight machines, but they were strong and they could run. They worked hard all summer, and Behm once said there were no fat guys on the field. At 6-4 and 225, he was, in fact, Nebraska's All-America tackle and the biggest guy on the team.

Behm Helped Create Tradition, Followed It Throughout His Life

Despite health issues that emerged, Behm lived in the same house he built 61 years ago when he became president of Corning Glass in Corning, N.Y. A widower, he still followed Nebraska football every chance he had because "there's a lot of tradition there".

That tradition reached a peak when Nebraska beat Notre Dame's Four Horsemen twice in the 1920s and then went to another level when Forrest Behm helped lead the Huskers to the Rose Bowl. Pictured directly above the right side of the "N", Behm and his teammates celebrated the 60-year anniversary of the 1941 Rose Bowl team in California. They were true trailblazers who were determined to lead Nebraska football into national prominence, and they did just that, laying the foundation for everything that has followed.

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In the 1930s, my father was superintendent of schools in the tiny town of Plymouth, Nebraska.  In 1938 or 1939, Forrest Behm came to visit our school.  How this came to pass, I have no idea.  But my father being superintendent, it was only natural that Mr. Behm eat with us at our house before he returned to Lincoln.  To my brother and me, it only would have been more impressive if God Himself had come to visit.  Mr. Behm was huge, at least to us, and as gracious and friendly as could be.  As you might imagine, he held a special spot in our house, along with Charlie Brock, who was my favorite player.  Mr. Behm certainly was an exceptional human being. Robert R. Reichenbach ‘52, Basking Ridge, New Jersey

Thanks for the great research on the Forrest Behm story, which is one of my Cornhusker football favorites, even though it was 35 years before my time. Might I suggest your readers search the internet and purchase a copy of What It Means To Be   A Husker by Jeff Snook (copyright 2004). The book recounts Behm's story and other football Huskers from the 1920s through 2001. The book is loaded with some of the greatest Cornhusker football stories that seldom have been told. Your column on Mr. Behm also rekindled memories of Forrest singing Come a Runnin' Boys from the Husker Century series produced by NET about 15 years ago. Forrest had a wonderful voice, and he could really carry a tune! Kevin Horn, Alliance, Nebraska

Forrie was a great friend and mentor to our dad, Don Bryant, and to the entire family. He will always be etched in Nebraska and national history for an incredible life well lived. Bill F. Bryant, Hickman, Nebraska

It's people like Mr. Behm that make me proud l'm from Nebraska. God bless him and his family. John Poppen

My dad was on the game ticket with him during the great fans/great players series of tickets. I am fortunate to have met him in person. Ryan Lohr

Rest in peace Forrest. I think a movie needs to be made about this. Lisa Hinz-Bunch

Wow. RIP. I bow as not worthy. Truly the most amazing generation. Barbara Hansen